The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship
by katie9918
Summary: The night of the Illinois primary, a new friendship is struck up. JoshEllie; AU; pre-romance friendship fic


Title: The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship (first in a series)  
  
Author: Kathleen  
  
Summary: On the night of the Illinois primary, two people strike up a  
  
friendship. Josh/Ellie friendship, pre-relationship  
  
Spoilers: the flashback scenes in ITSOTG I and II, Ellie, and the  
  
first three episodes of season 5 (just for the names of Elizabeth's  
  
husband and son)  
  
Disclaimer: All WW characters belong to Aaron Sorkin and company. The  
  
character of Alice Marshall is from the motion picture Air Force One  
  
and does not belong to me.  
  
Author's Note: This is the first in a series of ficlets and fics that  
  
center around the relationship between Eleanor Bartlet and Josh Lyman  
  
(a relationship that exists only in my fantasy world).  
  
Also, it would be wise for me to note that in this alternate  
  
universe, Toby and Ginger were married before she joined up with the  
  
campaign.  
  
**  
  
It should have been a night of celebration. A night of triumph. The  
  
righteous ones had prevailed and the other guy had just had his ass  
  
handed to him.  
  
Yup, that was exactly what had happened in this place tonight. In a  
  
different circumstance, Josh supposed he would have never thought of  
  
the state of Illinois the same way again. The rush had been unlike  
  
anything he had ever felt before. The feeling had left him riding  
  
high, along with everyone else, and any lingering doubts that he had  
  
had about jumping ship on Senator Hoynes had been trumped right out  
  
of existence.  
  
Until Donna had delivered that awful news. The news no one who has  
  
parents ever wants to hear.  
  
And that's how he'd ended up downstairs in the hotel bar, alone. He  
  
couldn't even bring himself to tell Sam and had left a strict order  
  
with his new assistant to keep the news of his father's death to  
  
herself for the time being. He'd just gotten off the phone with his  
  
mother, who had urged him to wait until morning to come home to  
  
Connecticut. Reluctantly, he had agreed.  
  
He was shaken out of his reverie when someone plopped down on the  
  
stool next to him. He turned sideways and managed a half-smile when  
  
he recognized his new companion as one of the Bartlet girls. This one  
  
he had just met tonight. What the hell was her name anyway? Emily?  
  
"Josh, right?" she asked, signalling the bartender.  
  
"Yeah. Josh Lyman..." he paused, concentrating, "Uh, Emily?" he  
  
cringed, knowing he was wrong.  
  
"Emily's my middle name." she replied as the bartender walked up.  
  
"What can I get for you? Congratulations on the primary, Mr. Lyman."  
  
he grinned.  
  
"I'll have a Jack and club on the rocks with a twist." Eleanor said,  
  
then turned to Josh. "You're not gonna make me drink alone, are you?"  
  
"Sam Adams." Josh instantly said, knowing a challenge when he saw  
  
it. "You're Zoey's older sister."  
  
"And Elizabeth's younger sister." she said. "Have you met her husband  
  
yet?"  
  
"No." Josh rubbed the back of his neck. "From what Leo said, your  
  
father'd be perfectly content to not have any of us meet him."  
  
"My father'd be perfectly content to forget there are some people  
  
connected to the Bartlet name who are not extraordinary but merely  
  
ordinary people. Some by marriage, some by blood." Eleanor replied as  
  
the bartender brought their drinks. She sipped it  
  
contemplatively. "Is the campaign trail usually like this?"  
  
That got Josh's attention. He had never seen her before, but he'd  
  
also assumed that was just because their paths had never managed to  
  
cross. Now it appeared that he had never seen her before because she  
  
had, in fact, never been around before.  
  
"The governor's not exactly new to the campaign trail." he said. "Was  
  
he really that popular in New Hampshire that he didn't have to  
  
campaign like this?"  
  
Eleanor shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I usually stayed home with Aunt  
  
Millie. If you want to know about my dad's overwhelming popularity,  
  
you'd have to ask those who bask in the glow of such things with him.  
  
Which would be my mother and both of my sisters."  
  
"Which is why you're down here drinking by yourself." Josh said. "Are  
  
you even old enough to drink?"  
  
Eleanor simply took a long sip of her Jack and club, her eyes never  
  
leaving his.  
  
"I don't like having all those people around me. They make me  
  
nervous." she stated. "Besides, you're down here drinking by  
  
yourself."  
  
"Hey, I wasn't drinking till you showed up. You're a corruptive force  
  
on poor little innocent me." Josh took a swig of his beer. "Besides,  
  
even if I was, I've got a pretty damn good reason."  
  
Eleanor drummed her fingers on the edge of the bar. "I overheard that  
  
blonde chick on the telephone. I'm sorry about your father. Were you  
  
close to him?"  
  
"Yeah." Josh replied, finding that he didn't really mind talking to  
  
this girl, who might not even be old enough to drink. He grimaced,  
  
trying to not think of what might happen if Governor Bartlet came  
  
down looking for his daughter. Oh, well. He could just plead  
  
ignorance. Besides, it was the bartender's fault anyway. He really  
  
should've asked for her ID. "Well, as close as we could be. He and  
  
Mom live in Connecticut."  
  
"Mmm..." Ellie nodded. "My roommate Alice and I are headed for  
  
Connecticut tomorrow. Her parents live in New Dover six months out of  
  
the year, Florida the rest."  
  
"Their IQs are dropping every year then." Josh took another swig of  
  
beer, then paused in the middle of swallowing. "Did you say New  
  
Dover?"  
  
"Yeah. They live outside of New Dover, but it's the closest town.  
  
They're country people now." Ellie said. "That's actually partly why  
  
I'm down here. Even if most of the people cleared out by now, I'm not  
  
exactly looking forward to telling Mom and Dad I'm leaving in the  
  
morning. Not that they really notice when I'm here."  
  
"Hey, exactly how old are you anyway?" Josh asked. At her pointed  
  
glare as she inclined her head towards the bartender, he hastily went  
  
on. "I mean, you're obviously over the age of eighteen. Are you in  
  
school, or in the armed forces, or something like that? Drug dealer?"  
  
She laughed. "No, actually, I'm a senior at the University of New  
  
Hampshire. I've already been accepted to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.  
  
In fact, I've been taking prep courses there, it's where I met Alice.  
  
She's in the police academy in Baltimore and once I move down there  
  
we're rooming together full-time."  
  
"Wait a minute." Josh used the beer bottle to point at her. "Okay,  
  
lemme get this straight. You're premed at UNH, in your senior year,  
  
and you're flying back and forth to Johns Hopkins for prep courses?"  
  
"Yeah?" Ellie stirred her drink.  
  
"And who would the not-so-extraordinary people in your family be?"  
  
Ellie blushed. "Thanks."  
  
"Em, what's your GPA?"  
  
Eleanor flushed. "That's none of your business. And why are you  
  
calling me Em?"  
  
"You still haven't told me your first name. And since your middle  
  
name is Emily, I figured... I'll tell you what my GPA was." Josh  
  
offered.  
  
"I know what your GPA is. You were bragging about it to Ziegler and  
  
his wife earlier." Eleanor replied. "And it's Ellie, by the way."  
  
"That short for something?" Josh asked.  
  
"That would be Eleanor. Eleanor Emily Bartlet." she replied. "Eleanor  
  
is my godmother's middle name."  
  
"New Dover, huh?" Josh went back to the earlier subject. "Do you  
  
think your roommate would mind if I rode with you two tomorrow? My  
  
parents live in New Dover...er..." he frowned when he realized what  
  
he had just said.  
  
"I'll have to double check with Alice, but I don't see any problem.  
  
Anything we can do for you, Josh." Eleanor finished off her drink and  
  
got up. "You're not gonna get shit-faced, are you?"  
  
"That just sounded really wrong coming from someone with that sweet a  
  
voice." Josh remarked, then could have bitten his tongue upon  
  
realizing how much that sounded like a line. God, would the  
  
governor's daughter think he was hitting on her?  
  
"You want me to walk you back to your room?" Eleanor asked. "Alice  
  
and I are in with Margaret. Leo's Margaret, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I know Margaret." Josh said. "You didn't get a room to  
  
yourself?"  
  
Eleanor shrugged and started tugging at his arm. "Come on, Lyman, I'm  
  
tired, and I've appointed myself your damsel in shining armor for the  
  
next few minutes. Or until I fall asleep. Whichever comes first."  
  
"For your knight in distress?" Josh shot back.  
  
"Let's go." she took a five out of her pocket and tossed it onto the  
  
bar.  
  
**  
  
Like? Dislike? Love? Hate?  
  
Hate it so much you wanna browbeat me?  
  
Love it so much you want to pay me?  
  
Feedback, good and bad, is welcome. Flames don't particularly bother  
  
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please do so OFF-LIST and to me PRIVATELY.  
  
Carry on,  
  
Kathleen 


End file.
